Photographs
by ExcellentDriver
Summary: The little black velvet box was burning inside his jacket's pocket. What was he going to do? "The Daredevil in the Mold" spoilers' inspired. One-shot.


**This is a one-shot inspired by episode 13 spoilers. They have Booth buying Hannah a ring and then what looks like them breaking up. So, I decided to write this. **

**I'm sorry I didn't update **_**Simple Solutions**_** yet… I promise I'm working on it, but I just got hit by a really terrible writer's block in that one. :( I know what happens and how it ends, but I just can't put it in words. **_**Yet**_**. But the chapter is already half-written, so maybe it doesn't take _that_ long to be up…

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He had to come back to his office to get a document he had to give Brennan the next morning. Or so this was his excuse to be at the Hoover's building at 9pm that night.

He had a date with Hannah in less than an hour and the carefully placed velvet box was burning inside his jacket's pocket. It had been bought completely in an impulse, he knew that. When he noticed Sweets insecurity and the seller claiming a guy would buy a huge rock for the woman he loved, he just bought the ring he thought was perfect for her without thinking.

Life had been hard in the past month. Coming home from Afghanistan wasn't as easy as he thought. He was convinced his feelings for his partner were buried after the disappointment of her completely lack of communication in seven long months. Hannah had been just another plus in the situation. She was easy and pretty and he didn't have to care about lines or childhood issues. Dating Hannah was a breath of fresh air.

Well, except he now realized it was just that easy not because they didn't have issues, but because he never trusted her enough to talk about issues. He didn't want to bother her with his traumas, or the fact he still had nightmares about people he loves getting shot and dying.

Hannah never doubted his loyalty, not even now that she knew about his past with Brennan. Well, at least what he told her about it.

But now, after being alone for over an hour driving, it hit him marrying Hannah wouldn't be the smartest decision he'd ever made in his life. Not when she didn't know half the truth about him. Not when she only knew Seeley Booth's good side.

Leaning back on his chair – not the one he got from the FBI, but a fancy one Bones had given him over an year ago claiming it would be better for his back. He refused at first, of course. He didn't want her to think he was taking advantage of her money or anything. But she was Bones, and she was even more stubborn than he was, and instead of thinking his refusal was a sweet thing, it lead to him getting a very long speech of how rude and ungrateful it was to send a gift back. So, he accepted it. He'd do anything to make her happy. Also, he loved the fact that she worried about him so much to the point to going out and finding him a perfect chair – he closed his eyes. _His life was a mess._

If things were already hard when they came back and he came back accompanied by a pretty journalist, it only got worse after Brennan confessed her regrets and saying she wanted to give them a chance. _Dammnit, why did things have to be so fucked up in his life?_

_Why couldn't they get together that first time they met, after drinking an entire bottle of tequila?_

_Or when they stood in front of each other in the place where Angela and Hodgins should be at their wedding?_

_Or after he almost died in a surgery?_

_Why did she have to turn him down when he poured his heart out to her?_

_And, most of all, why did she have to open up her heart out to him now, when he was finally moving on and happy?_

Or was he?

He picked up the velvet box and opened it to see the ring.

It had been incredibly expensive and totally a crazy thing to do.

But the woman said a guy would buy the biggest rock for the woman he loved, right?

So he did it.

At first he told himself he needed to show Hannah how much he loved her, because being around Bones was getting harder and harder lately. Especially now with the new serial killer being a sniper and his own dark past. He wanted to talk to his partner, he needed her assurance that everything would turn out okay, that he wasn't like Broadsky. He needed her more than he ever did, but he couldn't leave Hannah. He didn't dare to put his heart in danger again. He didn't think it would survive being crushed one more time.

So he bought the ring to show Hannah how much she mattered to him.

Except he chose this rock because it reminded him of the brightest blue eyes he'd ever seen. People usually choose diamond rings to propose to the woman they want to marry, but the woman in his mind wasn't an ordinary person. The blue rock was beautiful, just like her, and it was different. He knew right there it was perfect for her.

He was happy and his heart was warm and full when he left the store, velvet box in his pocket.

That was, until he realized he'd bought the ring for the _wrong_ woman. Until he was out of the store, he didn't realize he'd been choosing the perfect ring for Bones.

And that was when his world fell.

He'd schedule the date with Hannah already.

He told Sweets he was going to propose.

_But how could he do it when he was thinking about someone else while buying the ring?_

Before he could stop himself, he reached out for the bottom drawer under his desk. He pulled out a photography album, one that he didn't touch in over a year. It had been a gift from Angela for his and Brennan's 5th partnership anniversary and it had pictures of them and articles from over the years.

The first picture was one a photographer from_ The Washington Post_ took of them after they solved Cleo Eller's case. They looked younger and they didn't stand very close in the picture. Brennan wasn't smiling, but he had a hint of one as he looked at her. He didn't remember exactly what was happening at that moment, but he knew it was right after she promised to keep working with him. He still remembered like it was yesterday how great he felt when she said that, the wall she built around her after their fiasco the year before was finally starting to crack.

He flipped some pages and stopped at one of his favorite ones. It was taken during their second year of partnership and they were in Vegas working undercover as Tony and Roxy. Over the years, he managed to keep his heart grounded and look at Brennan just like a partner, but that night, when he saw her in that little black dress, he thought he wouldn't be able to control himself. She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Later on, when she saved his life during that fight, he just knew falling in love with her was completely inevitable. They took the picture to send to the squints, to show how great at acting they were. Not that he minded playing "engaged to be engaged" with her. Or sharing a bed with her.

The next picture was one of them in Angela's almost-wedding. It was taken before the groom and the bride had run away leaving him and Bones standing in front of the altar in one of the most awkward moments of his life. He had his arm wrapped around her slim waist and she looked beautiful in her purple dress. What he hated the most about that night was that his chance to kiss his partner with the excuse of the maid of honor and the best man went completely down the hill when it ended up having no wedding. But she had hugged him, so it had been a plus after all.

Booth laughed when he saw the next one. It was one of the pictures Angela took without them watching, and it had Brennan dressed up as Wonder Woman playing with her golden lasso thinking no one was watching and he smiling in the background, dressed up as a squint and totally loving the view.

He passed the pages: them celebrating after Max's trial, them in London, them in the plane coming back from China, them as Boris and Natasha… he stopped again at one of the last ones, both of them looking their best in the Egyptian party at the Jeffersonian, the one they had thrown for Brennan's discovery of Anok. She was looking gorgeous and she'd dumped Andrew Hacker to bring him with her instead. _What goes on between them was just theirs. _He still remembered how fast his heart beat during those seconds he was sure they were going to kiss, that was, right before the squints interrupted them.

The last picture was one of his favorites of all time. It had been taken during Brennan's birthday the year before, and she had this adorable cranky face, her nose all covered by chocolate cake. The cranky face was directed to him – the one who put the chocolate there in her nose . He was laughing and looking at her with adoration in his eyes. Booth felt his heart tightening. He hadn't laughed like that, naturally and completely from the heart, for so long that he couldn't even remember how it felt like.

He didn't notice he was crying until a tear dropped on the album, while he ran his finger through her face in the photograph. For six years, she'd been his life. They might not had kissed or made love like ordinary couples, but there was love in there. And loyalty. And everything he wanted and needed. They were happy.

He couldn't marry Hannah, now he was sure of it.

Because he never fell out of love with the most extraordinary, yet infuriating, woman he'd ever met.

Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan had the worst timing in the world, but he was decided to change that.

The woman who used to claim she didn't believe in love admitted she wanted him. He would not be responsible for losing her again. He would not let his fears of getting hurt again won the best of him.

He had to pursuit his happiness. And his happiness was Temperance "Bones" Brennan.

Standing up with hope finally rising in his chest again, he took the ring and the photo album and flew out of his office.

He knew what he had to do.

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**Yes, where Booth goes… well, it's up to you! ;)**

**What did you guys think about last night's episode?**

**Isn't it good that it feels like our favorite show is finally coming back?**

**And wasn't it amazing seeing that Booth, besides what he claims, still looks at Brennan when she's not watching with longing in his eyes?**

**I LOVED IT! =D**


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